Meristematic Tissues

Meristematic tissues, or simply meristems, are tissues in which the cells remain forever young and divide actively throughout the life of the plant. When a meristematic cell divides in two, the new cell that remains in the meristem is called an initial, the other the derivative. As new cells are added by repeated mitotic divisions of the initial cells, the derivatives are pushed farther away from the zone of active division. They stretch, enlarge and differentiate into other types of tissues as they mature. Meristematic cells are generally small and cuboidal with large nuclei, small vacuoles, and thin walls.

A plant has four kinds of meristems: the apical meristem and three kinds of lateral—vascular cambium, cork cambium, and intercalary meristem.